The present invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Hydrangea plant, botanically known as Hydrangea paniculata, commercially referred to as a paniculate-type Hydrangea and hereinafter referred to by the name ‘HYLV02’.
The new Hydrangea plant is a product of a planned breeding program conducted by the Inventor in Velp and Reeuwijk, The Netherlands. The objective of the breeding program was to create new compact and freely-branching Hydrangea plants with strong sturdy stems, large inflorescences with numerous attractive sterile flowers and good postproduction longevity.
The new Hydrangea plant originated from an open-pollination made by the Inventor during the summer of 2012 in Velp, The Netherlands, of Hydrangea paniculata ‘Phantom’, not patented, as the female, or seed, parent with an unknown selection of Hydrangea paniculata as the male, or pollen, parent. The new Hydrangea plant was discovered and selected by the Inventor as a single flowering plant from within the progeny of the stated open-pollination in a controlled greenhouse environment in Reeuwijk, The Netherlands in August, 2014.
Asexual reproduction of the new Hydrangea plant by vegetative tip cuttings in a controlled environment in Reeuwijk, The Netherlands since August, 2016 has shown that the unique features of this new Hydrangea plant are stable and reproduced true to type in successive generations.